Phil's Collection

CNN: What’s Stunning about the Misinformation Trend — and How to Fix it

This originally appeared as “What’s Stunning about the Misinformation Trend — and How to Fix it” in December 2021 in CNN Opinion.

An extensive opinion essay on the pax technica by John Thornhill in FT:

Is this internet of things going to set us free or lock us up? That question is the subtitle of a book called Pax Technica by Philip Howard, a professor at the Oxford Internet Institute. It was also the subject of a recent conference at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at Cambridge…

Petre, Caitlin.  Review of Pax Technica by Philip N. Howard. Contemporary Sociology 46(1). (2017): 84-85, DOI: 10.1177/0094306116681813ff.

Over the past quarter-century, mobile phones, tablets, personal computers, and other networked digital devices have rapidly proliferated around the world. In the coming years, a growing number of consumer products—from cars to apparel to home appliances—will…

Trusted Innovation – Junk Science, Fake News, and Public Understanding of Artificial Intelligence and Climate Change

In some key domains of public life there appears to be coordinated efforts to ruin the reputation of science and innovation. Scientists now protest in the streets just to get policymakers to embrace evidence-based policy making. Long-held consensus on the causes and consequences of climate change, tobacco-induced cancers, and value of public health strategies increasingly seem open for debate. We…

Trusted Innovation – Junk Science, Fake News, and Public Understanding of Artificial Intelligence and Climate Change

Video: Ten things you wish you didn’t know about elections (and what to do about them)

In this talk, Prof Phil Howard explains how we are targeted and manipulated by social media and bots trying to influence voter behaviour. Since 2012, Professor Howard and team have been investigating the use of algorithms, automation and computational propaganda in public life. Political bots are manipulating public opinion over major social networking applications. This project enables a new…

Video: Computational Propaganda: The Impact of Algorithms and Automation on Public Life

The Internet certainly disrupted our understanding of what communication can be, who does it, how, and to what effect. What constitutes the Internet has always been an evolving suite of technologies and a dynamic set of social norms, rules, and patterns of use. But the shape and character of digital communications are shifting again—the browser is no longer the primary means by which most people…

Video: Is Social Media Killing Democracy? Computational Propaganda, Algorithms, Automation and Public Life

The Oxford Internet Institute presents Professor Philip Howard’s Inaugural Lecture.

The design and implementation of social media platforms has put several advanced democracies into a kind of democratic deficit. First, social algorithms allow fake news stories from untrustworthy sources to spread like wildfire over networks of family and friends. Second, social media algorithms provide very real…

Prezi: What is Public Opinion? Lessons From 4 Mistakes

The science of opinion measurement often advances because of big mistakes. Three of the biggest mistakes are easy to identify. Did we just make a fourth?

Prezi: Strong Ties, Weak Ties, Political Power

Here is my Prezi on “Strong Ties, Weak Ties, Political Power“.

Prezi – Collective Action in a Digital Era

Here is my Prezi on “Collective Action in a Digital Era“.

Social Media, Civic Engagement, and the Slactivism Hypothesis: Lessons from Mexico’s “El Bronco”

Howard, P. N., Savage, S., Saviaga, C. F., Toxtli, C., & Monroy-Hemández, A. (2016). “Social Media, Civic Engagement, and the Slactivism Hypothesis:  Lessons from Mexico’s “El Bronco”. Journal Of International Affairs, 70(1), 55-73.